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INDIANAPOLIS – With The Franchise sidelined at least another week, the winless Indianapolis Colts are considering sliding new arrival Jacoby Brissett into the starting quarterback spot for Sunday’s home opener against the Arizona Cardinals.

After the way Scott Tolzien played Sunday in Los Angeles, it’s hard to imagine the Colts not giving Brissett a shot. What does this team have to lose?

But that’s where this football team sits, one week into what figures to be a bumpy season. The Colts are thin on options, picking between a QB who’s coming off a ghastly Week 1 performance – Tolzien’s passer rating was 33.8 in that disastrous loss in L.A. – and one who arrived in town eight days ago. If Jacoby Brissett gets the nod for Sunday, he’ll have all of six practices under his belt with the Colts. That’s tough for any quarterback, let alone one with two career starts to his name and a playbook he’s still absorbing.

Andrew Luck, nine months into rehabilitation for that surgically-repaired throwing shoulder, has been ruled out, though coach Chuck Pagano said he didn’t know if Luck would practice this week. Luck remains in the training phase of his recovery, General Manager Chris Ballard said last week, and would likely need multiple weeks of practice before the team feels comfortable throwing him into game action.

Tolzien tossed a pair of pick-sixes Sunday before being pulled early in the fourth quarter for Brissett, who led the team’s only touchdown drive.

“It’s something that we’ll discuss later tonight and tomorrow as we game plan,” Pagano said of the potential switch at quarterback.

An injured Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck (12), left, talks with backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett along the sidelines during the second quarter in the game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. (Photo: Matt Kryger/IndyStar)

What will be the deciding factor?

“You gotta do what’s best for the football team and give us the best chance to move the ball and put points on the board.”

The Colts totaled just 179 passing yards Sunday. They went 0-for-10 on third downs. They turned the ball over three times. They buried themselves, and no position was more culpable than the starting quarterback spot. Tolzien knew it.

“Two pick-sixes; you’re not going to win many games in the NFL doing that,” he said. “It’s a team effort, but I certainly want to own this one and put it on me. You always feel guilty when you let your team down, and we’ve got a lot to improve on. Starting with me.”

Tolzien’s passer rating was the lowest by a Colts quarterback since Luck’s 23.0 in the 2014 AFC Championship Game in New England.

As for Brissett, how feasible is it to throw the former New England Patriot into the mix just two weeks after arriving? There are challenges, certainly. He’s playing catch-up, having spent six weeks of training camp and the preseason in Foxborough. Colts offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski can simplify his scheme, but it’s still a hefty load to ask of a newly-arrived signal-caller.

“That’s a lot, obviously,” Pagano said. “There’s nobody that can come in and digest and learn a playbook in that period of time. There’s challenges with any quarterback in any system in any NFL building.”

But the Colts have experience in this area; this isn’t the first time Luck’s been out. In Week 17 of the 2015 season, the Colts played a pair of quarterbacks – Josh Freeman and Ryan Lindley – whom they signed that very week. Freeman's last playing stop before Indianapolis was the Brooklyn Bolts of the Fall Experimental Football League, though Pagano often refers to it as "the Coney Island Thrashers."

A condensed playbook, and some timely throws that day from Freeman and Lindley, was enough to beat a three-win Titans team 30-24.

However much or little of the playbook Brissett knows, this fact is inarguable: He gave the Colts a spark Sunday. His first throw was a 50-yard bomb that Donte Moncrief snared out of the sky; two plays later, the Colts found the end zone. Brissett finished 2-for-3 for 51 yards, mostly handing off after that. The game was already well in hand.

For an offense that, with Luck involved, relies heavily on the deep ball, Brissett fits the mold far more than Tolzien.

After acknowledging he’s still cramming, still learning, Brissett on Sunday evening wasn’t ready to declare where he fits with this team. Short-term solution? Long-term backup?

“I played not even a quarter,” he said. “That’s not my job to tell who the starter is or not. That’s the coach’s job. It’s my job to go out there and just compete and continue to learn. I’ve been here a week, but it’s a work in progress.”